When I visited the Philippines in 1998, I observed it was a Catholic country. Only the southernmost islands are Muslim, which is where you could end up getting kidnapped.
2009 Statistics for the Philippines...
by Tuesday 28 Replies latest jw friends
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Tuesday
Thanks Moshe, that will help with my data. I was clearly only going off most of the stuff I've read about the country. So they're mostly Catholic, isn't that the most converted religion for JWs? That would actually make it easier to convert, for those "accepting Jesus" the 700 would have to be legitimately converting Muslims otherwise they would've already accepted Jesus. It seems the 700 Club is even more successful than JWs, but no way to compare the raw data that way because there's nothing more specific.
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jwfacts
Tuesday, as Moshe said, the Philippines is a very strict Catholic country. So strict that you are not allowed a divorce in Philippines. It is only the island Mindanao that is Muslim. Philippines is far easier to convert someone to being a JW than Thailand which is Buddhist, Malaysia which is Muslim, or India which is Hindu. So the point you make is valid.
As a side note, Philippines had to highest percentage loss of publishers after the false predictions for 1975.
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shepherd
No offence, but you clearly know nothing at all about the Philippines.
Not only is it predominantly Catholic, but many other 'Christian' groups are active, complete with missionaries going door to door, including Methodists, Baptists, LDS.
There are major reasons for this, and if you are going to compare statistics you need to know and understand them first. It is a country that has a Catholic tradition - the result is large, close, familes with a lot of children, endemic corruption and severe poverty. 40% of the population earns less than $2 a day. It is decidedly 3rd world. Most do not complete a High School education, and those who do would still struggle to pass a test given to 11 year olds in the West.
The people are traditionally hospitible and friendly, trusting, modest and likely to follow direction.
In other words, they are ripe for conversion. They need the (false) hope these religions peddle, are highly uneducated so only need to trust the 'teacher'; they do not need to understand any of the actual doctrines to believe, perfect for JW's.
Jw's do well in countries like these as do other faiths.
The Catholic Church is going through a rough patch, with scandal after scandal being reported in the press. They also oppose divorce and any forms of contraception while most of the population hopes for both to be available in the future.
So, before comparing 2 sets of stats and trying to work out if this is caused by the door to door work you need to factor in some basic facts about the place first.
P.S. It's not nit-picking when your ignorance is the size of an elephant.
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RAYZORBLADE
I lived in the Philippines, many years ago.
Moshe also touched upon the demographics too: predominantly Catholic, but more Muslim in the south (Mindanao).
When I lived there, it was surprising how many 'evangelicals' had made inroads there (1988/89).
There are some renegade 'Catholics' there, that oppose much of what Rome is on about: contraception and divorce. I met some of those people; a welcome respite from the ongoing national problem. A country that had so much potential, until an unbridled dictator took the reins. They never recovered.
To make it short: perfect fodder for the JWs to gain converts from.Side note: even the poorest of the poor, will have a television and a mobile phone . Really!
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shepherd
"A country that had so much potential, until an unbridled dictator took the reins. They never recovered"
Not strictly true. The economy has been growing at 4-5% each year for a few years. The problem is the rampant corruption, which is, according to the UN, the worst in Asia. This is not Marcos' fault but the fault of successive presidents. The last president, Arroyo, is widely considered to have been the most corrupt of all, even more than Marcos.
This means the poor look to religion for hope, and the JW's, as just one amongst a colony of religious vultures, are there for the easy pickings.
Do not think these numbers are all that high, however. This is a country of 90 million, so 200 000, probably including any kid over 8 who goes out with mom door to door, is a tiny number. Religions there normally count members in the millions.
Door to door activities alone do not count for growth amongst JWs there. Compare LDS Brigham Young University Newsnet quoting senior missionary Dave Brinsfield: "Out of the 49,000 converts who joined the church in 2001 and 2002 [in the Philippines], only 1,000 remain active."
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Tuesday
No offence, but you clearly know nothing at all about the Philippines.
Not only is it predominantly Catholic, but many other 'Christian' groups are active, complete with missionaries going door to door, including Methodists, Baptists, LDS.
This is why I posted this, I only know about what I read in the news which lately is about the Muslim population their and participation in honor killings. As you can see from my response to JWFacts I'm planning on re-wording this to include that they're catholic and therefore should be easier to convert. You obviously read beyond my initial post so you could read a bit further.
P.S. It's not nit-picking when your ignorance is the size of an elephant.
I was talking about the spelling criticism not the stuff about the culture, but thanks for being a douchebag about it.
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moshe
will have a television and a mobile phone
I wonder, if Internet cafes are still around? I did notice that they only paid for outgoing calls- so incoming calls were free.
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besty
I kept getting the response that "the door to door work is the most effective way of reaching people"
Not that 'Jesus told us to go door to door'?
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Mad Sweeney
I bet you were thinking Indonesia when you thought predominantly Muslim pacific island nation. The Philippines were a Spanish colony and as such (as has been mentioned) are predominantly Catholic. You may want to check this for accuracy but I think I read once that they are the only south pacific / southeast Asian country to have Spanish as one of their primary languages. I don't know if it's relevant but I thought it was an interesting tidbit when I heard it.